title: Wall shear stress variations and unsteadiness of pulsatile blood-like flows in 90-degree bifurcations.
abstract: Complex and slow interaction of different mechanical and biochemical processes in hemodynamics is believed to govern atherogenesis. Over the last decades studies have shown that fluid mechanical factors such as the Wall Shear Stress (WSS) and WSS gradients can play an important role in the pathological changes of the endothelium. This study provides further indications that the effects of fluid mechanical aspects are correlated with the diseased regions of the larger arteries. Unsteady high temporal WSS gradients (TWSSG), a function of the shear-thinning property of the non-Newtonian viscosity, move with the separation bubble. Red Blood Cell (RBC) dilution due to the secondary flows determines the magnitudes of the WSS and TWSSG. The results indicate that the focal nature of the TWSSG may have implications on the response of the endothelium.
authors.affiliation: Linné FLOW Centre, KTH Mechanics, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm SE-100 44, Sweden. stevin@mech.kth.se
authors.forename: Stevin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: van Wyk
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Prahl Wittberg
authors.forename: Laszlo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Fuchs
mesh_terms: D050197:Atherosclerosis / Q000503:physiopathology; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity / Q000502:physiology*; D001790:Blood Physiological Phenomena; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004730:Endothelium, Vascular; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008955:Models, Cardiovascular; D011673:Pulsatile Flow / Q000502:physiology*; D013314:Stress, Mechanical; D014783:Viscosity